The eye-popping volume of high-profile prospects at the University of Kentucky makes their NCAA tournament games required viewing for just about anyone involved in NBA personnel matters. The Wildcats boast six players within the top 50 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com Big Board and five among the top 50 prospects that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress compiles. Coach John Calipari’s presence seemingly ensures that Kentucky will produce a steady stream of NBA players, and NBA stars, for years to come.
Already, Kentucky is one of two schools with four former players making at least $10MM in NBA salary this year. The other school is an SEC rival. Florida boasts just as many, and another is probably on his way, as Bradley Beal will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this year.
Eight other schools can boast multiple $10MM players, counting those who signed extensions this past fall that will give them eight-figure salaries next season and those who are receiving $10MM this season on contracts that were waived via the amnesty provision. Still, bluebloods like North Carolina (Ty Lawson), Indiana (Eric Gordon) and Georgetown (Roy Hibbert) only have one such player apiece.
Here’s a breakdown of schools that have produced multiple NBA players making $10MM-plus:
- Florida — David Lee ($15.012MM), Chandler Parsons ($14.7MM), Joakim Noah ($12.7MM), Al Horford ($12MM)
- Kentucky — DeMarcus Cousins ($14.746MM), John Wall ($14.746MM) Eric Bledsoe ($13MM), Rajon Rondo ($12.909MM)
- Connecticut — Rudy Gay ($19.317MM), Kemba Walker ($12MM in 2015/16)
- Duke — Carlos Boozer ($16.8MM), Kyrie Irving ($15.857MM in 2015/16)
- Georgia Tech — Chris Bosh ($20.644MM), Derrick Favors ($12.95MM)
- Memphis — Derrick Rose ($18.863MM), Tyreke Evans ($11.265MM)
- Texas — Kevin Durant ($18.996MM), LaMarcus Aldridge ($16.256MM)
- UCLA — Kevin Love ($15.719MM), Russell Westbrook ($15.719MM)
- USC — Nikola Vucevic ($11.25MM in 2015/16), DeMar DeRozan ($10.1MM)
- Wake Forest — Chris Paul ($20.069MM), Tim Duncan ($10.361MM)
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.